Mission to Encaria
starship * Unidentified Earth Starfleet vessels | strength2 = | losses1 = Indeterminate | losses2 = }} The mission to Encaria was a mission undertaken by the Earth Starfleet vessel . ( }}) History Prelude Following the mission to Epsilon Theta on May 8th, medical experts confirmed that the plague which infected the Epsilon Theta system was an artificial event. Due to the level of sophistication necessary to synthesize something so complex and lethal, the United Earth Starfleet suspected Romulan involvement. The First Minister of Epsilon Theta Prime provided Starfleet with a holographic image of an alien ship that was observed surveying the planets in that region. Its design indicated that it was a vessel used by the Encari, an isolationist people whose homeworld of Encaria was located just two light years from Romulan space. As such, Enterprise was ordered to investigate Encaria. Her commanding officer, Jonathan Archer, suggested that the Encari were either a tool for the Romulans, or had a foothold in Starfleet space themselves. ( }}) The Mission Upon scanning Encaria, Enterprise sensors found that Encaria had been poisoned with the same disease that infected Epsilon Theta, only it was much further along in the ecosystem by this point, with all plant and animal life having perished. Shortly after, Enterprise detected a transport moving away from their position. Hailing the transport, Archer ordered whoever was aboard to shut down their engines and prepare to be boarded, but received no response. Upon subjecting the transport to a concentrated scan, Enterprise found it to be an unmanned drone carrying a large concentration of the toxin. Setting a parallel course to follow the transport, the Starfleet vessels were intercepted by Romulan vessels along the way before tracing the transport as it entered a starbase, which carried a large amount of the toxin in liquid form. Observing the base to be a processing facility, Archer determined that the Romulans were synthesizing the toxin from there and distributing it to Starfleet sectors. Shockingly, the Romulan starbase engaged a cloaking device after depositing a Romulan cargo ship, with Archer noting that the energy requirements to cloak something so large would be astronomical. The cargo ship, classed as a biogenic disseminator, took evasive action only to be destroyed by the Starfleet vessels, which were left at an impasse; with the station cloaked, they were unable to target its key systems to destroy it. Initiating search pattern Omega, the Starfleet ships searched through the remaining planets in the system for the source of the toxin. Picking up trace amounts of the toxin, Enterprise found a biogenic transport, with Archer determining that it had harvested the toxin from a planet in the system. Intercepting the transport before it could reach the cloaked system, Enterprise discovered an orbital facility where Archer reasoned that the Romulans were harvesting the toxin from its planet's surface. Destroying the facility, the Starfleet vessels continued their search pattern to ensure that there were no other orbital stations in the system. Ultimately, Starfleet found and destroyed a total of four additional harvesting stations. Following this, the processing facility decloaked and launched two biogenic disseminators containing toxin in an attempt to take it out of the system. Finding that the cargo ships were also stocked with plasma torpedos, Archer suggested that, if they were to be detonated, it would be enough to destabilize the cloaking shield on the base. Indeed, upon the destruction of one cargo ship, the plasma torpedos' displacement disrupted the base's cloaking field. Immediately after, the second cargo ship went to warp out of the system, however, Archer deemed the first priority as being to destroy the facility. Upon doing so, the Starfleet ships took off to intercept the remaining disseminator. ( }}) Aftermath With the production facility for their toxin destroyed, the Romulans immediately began a big push into strategic Starfleet sectors, intending to use the weapon on Earth. Only the Tyburn system stood in their way, and so the fleet led Enterprise changed course to assist their forces there. During the battle of Tyburn, a trio of biogenic disseminators were uncovered. Despite their use of shield generators designed for deployment on outposts, these cargo ships were ultimately destroyed by the cutting beam of the Tyburn mining base, thwarting the Romulan attack on Earth. ( }}) Appendices Connections Category:Earth-Romulan War